I Just Wanted to Say Sorry
by writer4uall
Summary: Sequel to I Love You, Dad. The first step to accepting your peers is accepting yourself. Only then, you realize you’re not alone. Part 2 in the Family Series.


Set after 'I Love You, Dad'. Thanks to all the reviewers! I just wrote it on a whim, not thinking it would be that good! The first step to accepting your peers is accepting yourself. Only then, you realize you're not alone.

Based on a story submitted to Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II by Shelly Miller.

Part 2 in the Family series.

I got home to my new house at the Trusscott residence. It had a weird ominous feeling about it.

I then spotted my brother Jackson and new sister Lilly.

Lilly had tears streaming down her face. Jackson was apparently trying to be strong for his little sister, but he looked ready to blubber any second.

"Miley!" Lilly breathed, hopping up to give me a hug.

"What happened?" I asked.

Lilly burst into tears.

Jackson led Lilly to the couch before turning to me. "Mom and Dad."

We were now just coming to term that we were legally under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Trusscott.

"Dad was drunk, and he shot Mom, then himself. He was too hangover-ish and Mom was too nervous to notice when we got home. We've been hiding ever since he brought out his pistol."

"But…"

"I didn't know he had drug problems either," said Lilly quietly. She looked up. "We're a screwed up family, aren't we?"

"No!" I told her. I gave Jackson a look.

"No!" he echoed soothingly. "We just have some problems. Everyone has problems. Like… Jessica broke up with me earlier

"She did?"

"Yeah. Some dude from school really 'swept her off her feet,'" said Jackson, doing air quotes.

Lilly's eyes watered again. "We ARE a screwed up family!" she bawled, dramatically falling into a laying position on the couch.

"Actually, I meant Jessica had the problem…" Jackson muttered.

"Lilly, get up," I coaxed.

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Guys!" Jackson yelled. Lilly and I looked up. "Stay calm, now, I'm calling 9-1-1." Jackson whipped out his cell and Lilly and I quieted down immediately. This was no laughing matter. Two people we had closely known as parents were now lying in another room dead.

We weren't required to attend school the next day, so we spent the 8 hours at the local McDonalds. Jackson had his cell phone with him the whole time, gripping it tightly, waiting for a call. The result of the Trusscott's – I mean, Mom's and Dad's – wills to tell us what would be done with either of us.

I scarfed down food the whole day; milkshakes, cheeseburgers, Snack Wraps, and McFlurries.

Jackson got a call to come to the Malibu General Hospital to meet with our family from Tennesee. On the way out of McDonalds, I threw up everything in the parking lot. Everything I had eaten, all the food, in a sickening puddle on the sidewalk. I was so stressed and depressed, I yelled at Jackson angrilly.

"Why did you make me eat all that?" I screamed at him, even though I knew it wasn't his fault. He had held back my hair and wiped off my mouth, and I started yelling at him.

And what killed me the most was he didn't smack me, tell me to calm down, or get Lilly to take me into the McDonalds bathroom to relax. He just stood there, paled, and let me yell at him for doing nothing.

All of a sudden my energy wiped clean and I broke down crying. Jackson and Lilly hugged me while I blubbered why Mom and Dad shouldn't have died and why I wanted to just go back to normal.

Oliver sat with Lilly and I the next day at lunch, since we came back to school. As I stood up to dump my tray, Andy McNolte came over. Andy was one of the school punks, with black hair and clothes. He didn't have any visible signs of make-up, but it was rumored he had a tatoo on his back, though no one was ever bold enough to ask. And no one called him Andy. No, he was Jet (or else, if you catch my drift).

"Hey, Miley, I –"

"Leave me alone, Buck," I snapped. Buck was, I guess, what us 'normies' called him, and he got tired of telling us to stop so it stuck.

"But I –"

"Look, my life's screwed up enough, if you haven't noticed. Leave me alone!" I said. I know I probably sounded rude, but I wasn't in the mood to get slammed by Buck.

There was no lead on the will of the Trusscotts, so we spent another dejected afternoon at McDonalds. My heart sank when I saw Buck and his crew coming. Buck was slightly hanging back, and as the others were sitting down, I saw him say something to a man outside.

As he came inside, an old grisley hoeboe appeared at the door.

"What did you say to me?" he asked.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Buck asked.

The hoeboe's face softened immediatly.

2 hours later, Jackson got another call to meet at the hospital.

As I got up to leave, Buck led me over across the room.

"Look, if this is about earlier at lunch –"

"I'm sorry about your parents," he answered. "I know how you feel. My mom died, and my dad had always thought me worthless, so I live with my aunt."

I was speechless.

"I'm sorry about your mom – and dad too."

"Then I guess we're even, Tenn." (My nickname for being from Tennesee.)

"I guess so, Buck – Jet –"

"Call me Andy."


End file.
